In 2013, hard surface categories continued to steal market share away from soft surface. According to data collected by Catalina Research, the U.S. resilient flooring market saw some of the sharpest percentage gains this year compared to all other floor covering sectors. To no surprise, gains continue to be led by the industry’s newest darling, luxury vinyl tile (LVT).

This year’s resilient sales (vinyl sheet and floor tile plus “other” resilient flooring) are estimated to have increased by 10.5 percent to about $2.7 billion while volume grew by 8.8 percent to 3.3 billion square feet. Sector sales growth benefitted from the introduction and consumer acceptance of LVT innovation and fiberglass-backed sheet vinyl.

Leading manufacturers agreed that the contributing factors for such robust category growth continue to lie in innovation, design and versatility.

According to Ed Duncan, senior vice president of residential marketing at Mannington, LVT continues to be the fastest growing category due to several factors including its realistic styling, superior durability and ease of installation. “Because of these reasons, both retail salespeople and consumers — as well as a growing number of commercial end-users — choose LVT over other flooring options,” he explained. “Innovation in locking installation, grouting options and a variety of size options have all continued to fuel this growth as well.”

Yon Hinkle, general manager of residential tile at Armstrong, touted that LVT has the whole package.

“It’s become a very complete product. Over time due to continued investment in technology, the visuals have improved dramatically,” he explained. “LVT has great resilient functionality, it can stand up to incredible wear, does very well in many different types of installations and is very adaptable to many different needs. If you name any customer type, you can see LVT playing a role there. Unlike most other product categories, it has an enormous appeal.” He also added that LVT is an easy product to manage compared to other product categories from packaging to transferring to handling inventory.

Clark Hodgkins, resilient category manager at Shaw, said that as today’s consumer considers trade-offs between hard surface options, LVT has risen in popularity. “LVT has proven itself to be a viable option when looking for a tile or hardwood visual. It offers today&apos;s top styling in a durable and water resistant format,” he said. “Additional competition within the category brings new options to the LVT category. These specifications make LVT a unique option, and retail sales associates increasingly recommend LVT to their customers.”

Hinkle added that LVT sales skyrocketing over the past year has less to do with consumers accepting the product and more to do with retailers accepting it.

“I think there is a general trend for consumers to accept what’s presented in front of them. You didn’t have many of these products placed as options, so what has changed is that floor covering retailers are emphasizing the product and the consumers like what they’re seeing. And that acceptance has increased every year for the past five years or so. We’re getting to a time where most retailers that have these options are selling them extremely well, so they will continue to familiarize new consumers with [LVT’s] benefits,” he said.

Imports rise, manufacturing onshores

Catalina Research reported that 2013 sector gains were largely led by sharp increases in shipments of foreign-sourced product. Imports (vinyl sheet and floor tile plus “other” resilient flooring) captured 43 percent of total resilient U.S. dollar sales and 60.9 percent of total square foot sales, which is up from 40 percent and 57.8 percent, respectively, in 2012.

According to Jonathan Train, vice president at EarthWerks, the LVT category is now associated with innovation, invention and infrastructure evolution. What many people fail to realize, he explained, is that much of it originated in the Far East.

“Click LVT came on line out of the Far East and since then, no one was making it domestically and no one has made it domestically,” Train said. “Experience has a lot to do with it. The benefits of importing and creating in that region are that there are more mature and advanced systems around to support it. I don’t think people in the U.S. realize how much creation came from over there.”

But as major U.S. manufacturers like Armstrong, IVC US, Mannington and Shaw begin to bring LVT production stateside, Catalina Research anticipates that import penetration levels may begin to peak.

Hinkle at Armstrong explained that while the onshoring of production may cause a flattening out of import growth over the next few years, the ever-increasing popularity of LVT will continue to make importing necessary.

“You might see that more in 2016 or 2017, but there is too much inherent growth in the category. The onshoring of LVT manufacturing is just beginning and plants won’t be fully functional until next year,” he explained.

And while manufacturers admitted that eventually LVT sales will calm, the next few years are expected to continue this path of record growth.

“We believe that LVT will continue to grow as a category, and as onshoring production continues, we will see import penetration numbers decrease somewhat,” said Duncan. “Mannington’s expansion of our Madison, Ga., facility will be complete and up and running by the end of this year. This will enable us to improve our speed to market times and allow for tighter quality control on our LVT products.”

The benefits of onshoring these products, according to leading manufacturers, have everything to do with providing North American customers with the best possible service.

“When you’re able to decrease overall shipping from 12 weeks to 2 or 3 weeks, you’re cutting down a big chunk of lead time. It’s the logistical part of the equation for the customer to have the product when they want it,” Hinkle added. “For Armstrong, that also means taking total control of design. Those things are important for us and I think it will lead to greater differentiation, and the customer will get a wider variety of looks.”

Hodgkins at Shaw added that eventually the market will find its level for supply and what will be most important is a manufacturer’s ability to quickly service product. “U.S.-made products will certainly have an advantage in that area,” he said.

Room in a crowding market

Now that the category has reached a critical mass, manufacturers fear that one challenge will be a flooding of new players trying to get in the game.

Train at EarthWerks noted, “It’s the same thing that happened with laminate. It originated outside the U.S. and once the product is in high demand you’ve got to get a certain level of capacity to start creating it here, and we’re seeing that happen in LVT now as well. The big question is what the demand will continue to be.”

While Hinkle agreed like every product category, LVT will eventually hit maturity, he added that the product is still young and reaping the benefits of being so.

“As the category matures, innovation slows down a little or is much more subtle,” he explained. “Because it’s still young, innovation is happening by the months or weeks. There’s a ton of innovation going on and that will continue over the coming years.”

Added Hodgkins, “We see several years of strong growth for the future. That said, at some point there will be a leveling off. Each type of floor covering has its own advantages, depending on the needs of the end user. LVT is currently experiencing a surge as it becomes more widely recognized as a category and better trusted in the various industry channels.”

Train agreed people are realizing the benefits of LVT more now than in years past. “I think what’s interesting is how consumers now come into stores asking for LVT and that wasn’t the case in past years. There is also significant traction on websites compared to what it used to be,” he said. “Across the board, consumers ask for LVT by name much more than they ever did.”